<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto"><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; ">"<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); ">Collins, the study’s author, said the findings underscore why it is critical to continue implementing the Affordable Care Act on schedule."</span></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; "><br></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; ">Courtesy of today's (July 8, 2013) Spokesman-Review.</div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; "><br></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; ">--------------------------------------</div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; "><br></div><div><p style="overflow: visible !important; margin: 0px 0px 21px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; "><h1 style="overflow: visible !important; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; clear: both; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); line-height: 1.2; font-size: 28px; font-family: Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; ">More young adults have health insurance, study finds</h1></p><p style="overflow: visible !important; margin: 0px 0px 21px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Like many college graduates, Amelia Mills needed a little help shifting from student to worker.</span></p><p style="overflow: visible !important; margin: 0px 0px 21px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The 23-year-old recent Whitworth University graduate said staying on her mother’s health insurance policy after graduating helped her do just that.</span></p><p style="overflow: visible !important; margin: 0px 0px 21px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Like Mills, fewer young adults are going without health insurance because of the Affordable Care Act, which lets young adults remain on their parents’ health plans until they’re 26.</span></p><p style="overflow: visible !important; margin: 0px 0px 21px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Mills said it’s given her time to get on her feet following college. Although she took a job shortly after graduating, there was a probationary period before she was eligible for her employer’s insurance plan, and even after that the plan wasn’t as good or as affordable.</span></p><p style="overflow: visible !important; margin: 0px 0px 21px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; "><p style="overflow: visible !important; margin: 0px 0px 21px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; "><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“It’s benefited me big-time,” Mills said of the health reforms many refer to as Obamacare. “It’s just been way easier with the whole transition to adulthood.”</span></p><p style="overflow: visible !important; margin: 0px 0px 21px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; "><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The number of uninsured young adults declined from 2010 to 2012, reversing a historic trend, according to a study by the Commonwealth Fund, a nonprofit. But the number of uninsured or underinsured adults in other age ranges continues to rise, and many reported struggling to pay medical bills or avoiding needed health care due to the cost.</span></p><p style="overflow: visible !important; margin: 0px 0px 21px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; "><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Since graduating, Mills has needed coverage for medication she refills monthly, glasses, a trip to the urgent care clinic for a bout of strep throat, and treatment for injuries she sustained in a minor car crash. Without it, she would have added to the $20,000-plus debt load she carries after paying for college with student loans.</span></p><p style="overflow: visible !important; margin: 0px 0px 21px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; "><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“It’s kind of just been one of those years where a bunch of stuff happened, so yeah, it’s been very helpful to have that,” she said. “It’s just one less thing I have to worry about.”</span></p><p style="overflow: visible !important; margin: 0px 0px 21px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; "><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Mills said that without having to worry about how she’ll meet basic health care needs, she has been able to broaden her job search. She recently accepted a position in Germany, where she will receive benefits through her job as an au pair once she arrives.</span></p><h3 style="overflow: visible !important; margin: 21px 0px 7px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; "><font size="3"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">‘A major reversal in historic trends’</span></font></h3><p style="overflow: visible !important; margin: 0px 0px 21px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; "><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The recent study found a decline in uninsured young adults, from 48 percent in 2010 to 41 percent in 2012, a decline of about 1.9 million people, according to one of the study’s authors, Sara Collins, vice president of Affordable Health Insurance, a subsidiary of the Commonwealth Fund.</span></p><p style="overflow: visible !important; margin: 0px 0px 21px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; "><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“The number of young adults who are uninsured has climbed rather steadily, particularly over the last decade,” Collins said. “We’re definitely seeing a major reversal in historic trends.”</span></p><p style="overflow: visible !important; margin: 0px 0px 21px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; "><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">In Washington, 62,000 young adults had gained health insurance as of December 2010, the most recent data available, because they could stay on their parents’ plan, according to the state Insurance Commissioner’s Office.</span></p><p style="overflow: visible !important; margin: 0px 0px 21px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; "><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“It shows you that the provisions of the law that have gone into effect already are having their intended effect,” Collins said. “It also shows why the remaining provisions of the law, how those provisions are likely to help the enormous number of adults who remain without health insurance coverage or who have very poor health insurance coverage.”</span></p><p style="overflow: visible !important; margin: 0px 0px 21px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; "><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The more recent Commonwealth Fund survey, released in April, included a sample of 3,400 19- to 64-year-olds, reached by telephone and cellphone. The findings are consistent with research conducted by other institutions.</span></p><p style="overflow: visible !important; margin: 0px 0px 21px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; "><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Collins, the study’s author, said the findings underscore why it is critical to continue implementing the Affordable Care Act on schedule.</span></p><p style="overflow: visible !important; margin: 0px 0px 21px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; "><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“The increase in the number of young adults who had health insurance was a major finding,” Collins said. She added, “We also found that coverage problems remain for many working-age adults.”</span></p><p style="overflow: visible !important; margin: 0px 0px 21px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; "><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Nearly half of adults overall – an estimated 84 million – spent time without coverage or were underinsured in 2012, and lower-income adults were uninsured or underinsured at a higher rate.</span></p><h3 style="overflow: visible !important; margin: 21px 0px 7px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; "><font size="3"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Cost remains a hurdle for many</span></font></h3><p style="overflow: visible !important; margin: 0px 0px 21px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; "><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Costs prevent many Americans from getting the health care they need, the study also found, and adults who lack insurance or who have plans with sparse coverage are significantly less likely to stay up to date on preventive care, which could drive up health care costs long-term.</span></p><p style="overflow: visible !important; margin: 0px 0px 21px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; "><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“We’ve been through a very severe economic downturn that we’re not out of yet,” Collins said. “It’s affecting young adults’ ability to go out into the labor market and they’re also emerging from college with enormous amounts of student debt.”</span></p><p style="overflow: visible !important; margin: 0px 0px 21px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; "><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">About 43 percent of adults 19 to 64 said that they had a medical problem and didn’t go to the doctor, didn’t fill a prescription, or skipped specialist care or follow-up tests due to the cost.</span></p><p style="overflow: visible !important; margin: 0px 0px 21px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; "><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“We’re also finding people who are uninsured during the year are far less likely to get recommended preventative care like having their blood pressure checked, cholesterol checked, getting the flu shot and also not getting cancer screenings like a mammogram, colon screening and pap test. It not only affects their current health status, it also has a likely long-term effect on their ability to maintain their health.”</span></p></p></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; ">--------------------------------------<br><br><div>Seeya 'round town, Moscow, because . . .</div><div><br></div><div>"Moscow Cares" (the most fun you can have with your pants on)</div><div><a href="http://www.MoscowCares.com">http://www.MoscowCares.com</a></div><div> </div><div><div>Tom Hansen</div><div>Moscow, Idaho</div><div><br></div><div>"<span style="font-size: medium; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); ">There's room at the top they are telling you still</span><span style="font-size: medium; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); "> </span></div><span style="font-size: medium; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); ">But first you must learn how to smile as you kill </span><br style="font-size: medium; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); "><span style="font-size: medium; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); ">If you want to be like the folks on the hill."</span></div><div><font size="3"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469);"><br></span></font></div><div><font size="3"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469);">- John Lennon<br></span></font><div> </div></div></div></body></html>